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American Friends Service Committee -- Western Massachusetts |
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Jeff Napolitano, AFSC's Western Massachusetts Program Coordinator
Jeff, who lives in Springfield, came to the Pioneer Valley from eastern Massachusetts in 2003. He is a former graduate student in Labor Studies at UMass Amherst and served as strike negotiator and president of the graduate student body. His experience includes conducting voter registration campaigns, organizing annual community "May Day" rallies, working for mayoral and school committee elections, and organizing protests against the U.S. wars and occupations. He has written for both popular and scholarly publications. In addition to working with community groups on local issues such as the Justice for Jason campaign, Jeff will focuson a range of AFSC priorities, including the national and international economic crisis, the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Help Increase the Peace (HIPP) youth leadership program. |
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American Friends Service Committee
NEW ENGLAND REGION
WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS PROGRAM
Jeff Napolitano, Western Massachusetts Program Coordinator
140 Pine St.
Florence MA 01062
Phone: 413-584-8975
Fax: 413-584-8987
The Western Massachusetts program, founded in 1968, focuses on peace education and social justice through work on nonviolence training, study courses and dialogues on economic justice, campaigns against U.S. military intervention, and education and action to combat racism, classism, and homophobia.
The program has evolved from a program primarily set up to do draft and military counseling and resistance to militarism and the war in Vietnam, to a broader educational-outreach program with a strong emphasis on community dialogue.
Western Massachusetts faces problems of growing economic disparity, an increased tendency to scapegoat the poor and other marginalized social groups, and a deterioration in public trust and ownership of local, state and federal government, along with increased efforts to militarize our economy and our communities.
The program seeks to empower communities to confront these problems and find lasting solutions which increase peace and build unity. AFSC-Western Mass. uses education and community dialogue to make the broader connections between militarism, economic disparity, and violence, and actively promote ways that people can break the cycle of violence which fosters these connections. Two primary goals are demilitarization of youth, and empowerment of economically oppressed people.